tabs 1

tabs(1)                                                         tabs(1)




NAME

       tabs - set tabs on a terminal


SYNOPSIS

       tabs [options]] [tabstop-list]


DESCRIPTION

       The  tabs  program clears and sets tab-stops on the termi-
       nal.  This uses the terminfo  clear_all_tabs  and  set_tab
       capabilities.   If  either  is  absent,  tabs is unable to
       clear/set tab-stops.  The terminal should be configured to
       use hard tabs, e.g.,

         stty tab0

       Like  clear(1),  tabs  writes to the standard output.  You
       can redirect the standard output to a file (which prevents
       tabs  from  actually changing the tabstops), and later cat
       the file to the screen, setting tabstops at that point.


OPTIONS


General Options

       -Tname
            Tell tabs which terminal type to use.  If this option
            is  not  given,  tabs  will use the $TERM environment
            variable.  If that  is  not  set,  it  will  use  the
            ansi+tabs entry.

       -d   The  debugging option shows a ruler line, followed by
            two data  lines.   The  first  data  line  shows  the
            expected tab-stops marked with asterisks.  The second
            data line shows the  actual  tab-stops,  marked  with
            asterisks.

       -n   This  option  tells tabs to check the options and run
            any debugging option, but not to modify the  terminal
            settings.

       -V   reports the version of ncurses which was used in this
            program, and exits.

       The tabs program processes a single  list  of  tab  stops.
       The  last  option  to be processed which defines a list is
       the one that determines the list to be processed.


Implicit Lists

       Use a single number as an option, e.g., "-5" to  set  tabs
       at  the  given  interval  (in  this case 1, 6, 11, 16, 21,
       etc.).  Tabs are repeated up to the right  margin  of  the
       screen.

       Use "-0" to clear all tabs.

       Use "-8" to set tabs to the standard interval.


Explicit Lists

       An  explicit  list  can be defined after the options (this
       does not use a "-").  The values in the list  must  be  in
       increasing numeric order, and greater than zero.  They are
       separated by a comma or a blank, for example,

         tabs 1,6,11,16,21
         tabs 1 6 11 16 21

       Use a "+" to treat a number as an  increment  relative  to
       the previous value, e.g.,

         tabs 1,+5,+5,+5,+5

       which is equivalent to the 1,6,11,16,21 example.


Predefined Tab-Stops

       X/Open defines several predefined lists of tab stops.

       -a   Assembler, IBM S/370, first format

       -a2  Assembler, IBM S/370, second format

       -c   COBOL, normal format

       -c2  COBOL compact format

       -c3  COBOL compact format extended

       -f   FORTRAN

       -p   PL/I

       -s   SNOBOL

       -u   UNIVAC 1100 Assembler


PORTABILITY

       IEEE  Std 1003.1/The Open Group  Base Specifications Issue
       7 (POSIX.1-2008) describes a tabs utility.  However

       o   This standard describes a +m option, to set  a  termi-
           nal's  left-margin.   Very  few  of the entries in the
           terminal database provide this capability.

       o   There is no counterpart in X/Open Curses Issue  7  for
           this utility, unlike tput(1).

       The  -d  (debug) and -n (no-op) options are extensions not
       provided by other implementations.

       Documentation for other implementations states that  there
       is  a limit on the number of tab stops.  While some termi-
       nals may not accept an arbitrary number of tab stops, this
       implementation  will  attempt  to  set tab stops up to the
       right margin of the screen, if the given list  happens  to
       be that long.


SEE ALSO

       tset(1), infocmp(1m), curses(3x), terminfo(5).

       This describes ncurses version 6.0 (patch 20170204).



                                                                tabs(1)